Lewey’s Lane actually curved heavily to the right, swinging in front of and past the Arch itself. There was a short road, maybe a hundred feet long, which connected the Arch to the main lane. Like an exit ramp the short road allowed people to line up and orderly make their way through the opening. Following basic US traffic patterns those on the right side were leaving and those on the left were arriving. The people arriving through the left side were literally winking into existence. It was a very cool effect to watch.
“You weren’t planning to wait in line were you?” I hollered to Visine.
Visine grinned wide and kicked his horse into high gear. I increased the speed of my own steed and fell in line behind him. It seemed very likely that anyone who saw Visine barreling down at them on a Clydesdale was going to get the hell out of the way. In a vain attempt to do the right thing, I tried to shout out a warning to those around us.
“Official GHOSTs business, coming through. Make a lane people.”
Most of the crowd turned at the sound of my voice and scurried to the sides at the sight of Visine. A few stood strong, making it clear that their pride would not allow them to run away scared. Fortunately there was plenty of room for us to ride by anyway. My warning yell had just been a courtesy. Visine plunged through the gate and the ripple effect surrounded his body as he vanished. I followed right on his heels.
As I traveled through the Arch the sensation was very similar to that of stepping around the ugly tree in Rock Creek Park. Although here it was more pronounced. The rush of wind was stronger and it almost felt like I was breaking the surface of water, even though there was air on both sides. The Veil pulled back around me to reveal the underground world of the Goblin Market. We immediately slowed our horses to a safe speed.
We were in a smaller side tunnel that was almost the exact same dimensions as the Arch. About fifty yards ahead of us I could see that our tunnel opened up into a much larger area. Navigating through the crowd was difficult and slow on horseback, but it did give me a nice elevated view of the area. Shops, stores, and various other structures filled up the space along the walls. There was a narrow lane down the middle, just big enough for carts to pass by if all of the people made way. In front of us the many races of the Veil mingled and shopped, darting back and forth across our path as we moved. I maintained a steady pace and allowed the crowds to flow around me.
“What are we gonna do with the horses?” I hollered at Visine.
He waved a hand forward, not bothering to reply. I continued to direct my gray and white pony after him, still looking about and taking in the sights.
The structures themselves were little ramshackle places. Some no more than tents, others were pieces of multicolored plywood and sheet metal nailed to support beams. Various pushcarts and overturned crates littered the ground as counter-space for makeshift mini-stores. There was no uniformity to the size or placement of the buildings. The pedestrian lane was forced the weave back and forth around obstacles as it made its way down the tunnel. Various venders rushed towards us in an attempt to sell their goods. One of them, a large lobster like creature, tried to sell me a bag of blue crawfish. The idea of seafood selling seafood made me chuckle as I waved him off. At the end of the tunnel there was a stable on the right side, Visine led his horse inside and I followed. We secured our horses into stalls and then Visine went over to greet the proprietor. The Goblin Market was new to me so I allowed him to take point.
“Jenkins, good to see you,” Visine said, his hand outstretched.
Jenkins, a short heavyset human, shook his hand and greeted him with a warm smile. He stood about five-foot-five with thin wisps of gray hair sparsely populating his head. Jenkins’ thick bushy mustache was also gray and he held a skinny cigar in his mouth. He wore a light brown leather apron over a bare chest. A pair of torn and faded blue jeans covered his legs down to his filthy bare feet. It was obvious that he was a man who didn’t mind a hard day’s work.
“Long time no see. You looking to store em or sell em?” he asked, gesturing towards the horses.
“Consider them a gift,” Visine said.
“A gift for what?” Jenkins asked looking skeptical.
“For an old friend,” he replied.
The two men locked gazed for a moment before Jenkins nodded and they shook hands. The air in the room felt a little heavier under the seriousness of the moment. It was clear that there was some story here, but knowing Visine I would never get to hear it. Without another word Visine headed out of the stables and I followed him, giving a quick good-bye salute to Jenkins as I passed.
“Shouldn’t we have asked him if he saw anything?” I asked.
“You mean in here?” Visine laughed, his hands gesturing at the room around us.
He was right. We were basically standing in an underground city. It was easily bigger than Union Station itself. There were people and buildings as far as the eye could see. Visine started through the crowd and I followed him. The structures we now passed were of a much higher quality. Although most of them were still comprised of multi-colored scraps and materials, the majority were obviously permanent buildings. Most were multiple stories high. After a long trek through the crowds of various storybook creatures we finally made it to a dark lesser-used side tunnel. It was maybe thirty feet wide and ended in a huge spiral staircase. After what seemed like a mountain climbing trek up countless stairs we finally found ourselves in a little room behind a large metal vent.
It was a huge vent, big enough for two men to walk through it abreast. There was something just on the other side, blocking most of the view but even so I could tell that we were in a parking garage. Visine pushed and the vent swung open on a pair of hinges. We stepped out into the lowest and farthest corner of the garage. This was obviously a storage area for old government equipment. A large mechanical arm kept it separate from the rest of the garage. Glancing back at the vent I noted that the obstruction had been an old construction sign, perfectly placed to hide the entrance from view. It was one of those big orange and black signs that changed its message by flipping through tiles, a dinosaur in the current digital age. The glass was busted and it obviously didn’t function anymore, except as a bit of camouflage for anyone exiting the vent. Making our way up a few levels of the garage we found an exit and stepped out onto First Street. As soon as we stepped outside I heard Vlad in my head.
“Just rounding the block Boss, be there in a second,” he said.
It was the tail end of rush hour and the little two-lane road that was First Street was packed with traffic. The sidewalk was busy with commuters hustling to and from the Metro entrance just up the street. As I leaned against the wall waiting for Vlad, a homeless man across the way caught my eye. There was a weird vibe to him, almost like he was some kind of guardian to this doorway. Before I could give it much thought however Vlad pulled up and Visine and I jumped in. I wondered what people thought as they saw me jump into the empty drivers seat of a car that had just driven up. No matter.
G Street to North Capital to Louisiana to Constitution and before you knew it we could see the Washington Monument on our left. Visine made sure that all of the traffic lights were green and we managed the herculean feat of traveling two miles in DC traffic in under ten minutes. I turned right onto 15th Street and we swung into the parking garage. Security was going to be so happy to see me again.
Chapter 24
As expected the guards were all in a tizzy about Vlad. I parked him in the same spot as earlier and told them to deal with it. They both rewarded me with very angry glares. In the interest of speed Visine and I rushed past the elevator and into the stairwell. It wasn’t long before nightfall and time was running short.
We made it down a couple of flights of steps and into sub-level two in record time. Visine continued on ahead to the morgue while I stepped into sickbay to check on the team. I figured this would be a good time to give everybody a quick run down on recent events and find out what else they had learned.
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“Howdy everybody. Time is running short so let’s not go crazy on the questions or tangents,” I said, directing that last part towards Freddy.
While Freddy, Erika, and Danny looked pretty much unchanged, I could see that Kara was in better shape. The bruising on her neck was lighter and it was clear that she was breathing better. From the way that she turned as I entered the room I almost couldn’t tell that she had a few broken ribs. Magical healing was clearly doing her body good. It was only a matter of time before she would be healthy enough to help out the rest of the team. I gave her a quick smile before addressing the room.
“Visine is checking to see if we missed any clues on Dirk’s body. In the meantime I need to know if you all learned anything about that orbus?”
“Are you all right?” Kara asked.
I’d almost forgotten how bad I must look. The bruises from the fight with Fangsy were now pretty visible in addition to several nicks and cuts from my sword fight. The doctor on duty, an older black man, actually wandered over and started cleaning up some of the deeper cuts. I figured it didn’t hurt if he cleaned me up a bit while I talked to the team.
“I’ll live. The orbus?”
If the stares that I was getting from the team were any indication I must really have looked rough. But Kara had her wits enough about her to realize that we needed to move forward so she answered me.
“Not much. The problem is that the device can be used for so many things. It’s a focus that can handle massive amounts of energy. I couldn’t even begin to guess to their purpose at this point,” Kara said.
“Could they use it to resurrect someone?” I asked.
They each met my eyes, the serious expressions on their faces making me slightly uncomfortable. I wasn’t exactly sure what they were thinking, so in the spirit of clarification I told them my theory.
“I mean could it be used to bring back some powerful Fae evil lady?”
“Possibly, why do you ask?” Kara replied.
“Visine and I caught up with the guy that Lady Servant bought the orbus from. Right after he told us which way the Servant was heading we got jumped by a couple of dark elves. After I beat some sense into them, they mentioned something about bringing back the Lady. So when you start putting those pieces together it looks like maybe the plan here is to resurrect some ancient Fae lady. That’s our current theory anyway, thoughts?”
“Interesting,” Kara said.
Freddy was unusually quiet as Kara stared off into space. I could see her forehead wrinkle a bit as she pondered the possibility. Then her eyes got wider as if something had just occurred to her.
“To my knowledge resurrecting someone is impossible. But maybe they aren’t bringing someone back from the dead, but rather back from another realm. If this Fae lady had been trapped in another magical dimension or prison, then the orbus could possibly open a gateway to bring her back. That is assuming that access to said magical dimension is actually here,” she said.
“Okay. So if we assume that this Lady is trapped in another dimension, does that help you figure out who it might be?”
“It should narrow down the list. But more importantly it limits the number of possible locations that they could be performing the ritual from,” she smiled.
“That sounds like good news. Would the name of this mysterious Lady help you pinpoint it?”
“Maybe. If we’re lucky and there is a record of her banishment it might contain information on the location. But that is assuming we can learn who she is and that you are correct in your summoning theory,” Kara replied hesitantly.
“It’s all we got right now,” I smiled weakly, “Why wouldn’t they just do this in the Veil, were manna is more plentiful?”
“If we are talking about someone who is imprisoned, then the realm in question is most likely only accessible from very specific locations. They might be using the orbus like a battering ram, knocking open the front door. The best way to guarantee that you were pumping that power into the right spot would be to use the exact location that she was banished from to begin with,” she said.
I nodded, “So we gotta figure out who she is. Does killing Dirk and Visine’s other friends tell us anything?”
Again she thought for a second before answering.
“Since they were immortals, the nature of which we didn’t quite understand, it could be any number of things. Perhaps their life energy was needed to complete the ritual. Or maybe their very existence interfered with the spell in some way. Again, there are many possibilities,” she finished.
“Yeah, I guess we are just taking stabs in the dark here. Especially since Lady Servant seems to be going ahead with his plan even though Visine is still alive and kicking,” I pointed out.
There was a brief moment of silence as we both tried to put everything together. Freddy took it as his opportunity to join the conversation.
“Speaking of which, what is Mr. Lazarus hoping to find?” Freddy asked.
Freddy’s question was a good one because I didn’t actually know the answer. I assumed that Visine was working under the auspice of “he’d know it when he saw it”.
“Dirk was the one who held the secrets to Visine’s past. We are convinced that he would have left a clue in the event of his death. Hopefully knowing where Visine actually comes from will allow us to find the connection to the Lady Servant.”
“The body was examined thoroughly to confirm cause of death. I do not know what else there is to discover,” Freddy said.
“I’d guess it’s something that only he would recognize. They were friends for a very long time. And since I think we have exhausted our ideas here I am going to head down there and help him. You all keep healing and keep thinking. There has to be something that we are missing,” I said as I stepped out the door.
I hurried down the hall and stepped into the morgue. Dirk’s body was laid out on a slab and Visine was going over it slowly with a black light. Barney, the zombi-ish mortician was working on some paperwork in the corner. I headed to the far side of Dirk’s slab so that I could help Visine look for clues.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
He looked up and shook his head at me before continuing his search. I could see the frustration building on his face. He was methodically going over every inch of Dirk’s body, looking for even the subtlest clue. As he was checking the hands over I remembered what I said to the team earlier.
“Okay, maybe you are over thinking this. You said he liked puzzles. So he probably wouldn’t have the answer on him but rather something to point us in a direction. Put yourself in his shoes. You’ve just been surprised by the bad guys. You have something on you that you don’t want them to find. What do you do?” I asked.
Visine laid the light down and looked up at me. A sly smile found his face. He looked down at Dirk’s belly and then glanced over at Barney.
“Were his stomach contents examined?” Visine asked.
Barney stirred from his paperwork once he realized we were talking to him. He shook his head as he answered.
“I took a sample of the contents for my toxicology report. But nothing there linked to the cause of death,” he replied.
Visine held his smile as he looked up at me, “We need an X-Ray machine.”
“There’s one in the infirmary,” I smiled
We put Dirk’s body on a gurney and wheeled it down to sickbay. There was a smaller x-ray machine in the morgue, but it wasn’t as powerful as the CAT scan or MRI machines used to save lives. The machine in the infirmary would give us a much more detailed image. The team looked up, shocked expressions on their faces as we wheeled Dirk by. The doctor who had tended to my wounds earlier was hanging out in the back of the room so I hollered in his direction.
“Hey doc, we need to use the fancy X-ray machine?”
The doctor waved us over and opened the door to a back room so that we could wheel the gurney in. There was a motorized table in front of what looked like a huge white donut. Th
e machine had obviously been designed with otherworldly creatures in mind as Dirk’s large body fit on the table with room to spare. Visine and I followed the doctor into a side viewing room and closed the door.
“Fire it up doc, we need to see inside,” I said.
“Where should we start?” he asked.
“Stomach,” Visine said.
The doctor nodded and hit a few buttons on a control panel. The table holding Dirk’s body started sliding through the opening of the donut and it slowed over his stomach. There was a loud clunking sound from the machine as the first few images started showing up on the monitors. Visine stared hard as image after image came across the screen. Something caught his eye and he yelled for the doc to stop. I didn’t see anything but Visine was pretty sure that there was something there. After hitting a few more buttons the doctor managed to find us a better angle and then I could see it, a small key.
“We need that key now,” Visine stated.
“Wheel him over to the next room and I can retrieve it,” the doctor said.
Visine and I collected Dirk’s body and wheeled it next door while the doctor used the images from the scanner to confirm exactly where he needed to cut. Since I didn’t even want to imagine what kinds of smells were going to emanate from the stomach of a man who had been dead for several days, I waited just outside of the operating room. The doctor worked quickly and Visine stepped out a couple of minutes later with the key on a metal tray. Fortunately he had cleaned it up before bringing it out here.
Since more heads were normally better than one, we examined the key in front of the team. It was fairly non-descript. There was a black plastic cap on the end that looked fairly worn. I didn’t know if it was because of stomach acid or years of use, but either way I could barely make out the letters S and A on the side. Visine turned towards Freddy.
G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic Page 22